The Last Five
by chiea
Summary: The Perfect Girl. The Perfect Boy. Rarely will you be given back what you lost no matter how small. Edited version.


Disclaimer: Inspired by Haruki Murakami's On Seeing the 100 Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning. Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto.

Because I realized there were a lot of bugs (the fact that fanfiction deletes the percent symbol making the whole oneshot hard to follow- ). Prepare yourself for the new.. well maybe not new but improved..

**The Last Five**

Written/edited by: Chiea the Pocky Monster

(Plum says, ang pangit pakinggan in Filipino. Perv.)

He was a five year old, innocent, naïve, pure. Far from the pollution of those wrapped in the workings of the shinobi world, a child. Everything was right with his life; each new day gave him lessons tailored for a member of their prestigious clan. Each day spent with his father who he adored.

He stared at his small hand wrapped with his father's larger and calloused one. It was perfect. He smiled as he realized that it could not get better than this.

Yet one day, he had corrected himself. For he had met the 100 percent perfect girl for him.

The cherry petals fell lazily onto the ground, shrouding the park in soft clouds of pink. Under the largest tree he saw her, sitting quietly, eyes gazing at the tree, mesmerized by its beauty. She probably was around his age, most likely she was a bit younger. She wasn't particularly beautiful. Her nose was too small, her hair was an odd color of pink and she looked too sad.

He didn't rationalize why he thought she was perfect, he just knew.

For the first time he had felt unsure if he should approach her. What if she was a vision and would suddenly disappear if he had gotten too close? But she was so close and after mulling it for what seemed like an eternity to him, as children were prone to exaggerate time, it really lasted only seconds, he approached.

The shuffling sounds of his feet announced his presence and she suddenly looked at him, eyes huge sparkling like those expensive gems his mother had, what were they called again, he mused.

Ah yes, emeralds.

And her eyes widened as she stared at him before backing onto the tree, as if trying to wedge her way inside the bark. Instead of being deterred, he walked closer until he was a feet away, then sat to meet her eyes.

He had reached out a hand and she closed her eyes waiting for a blow. He had fished out a couple of petals from her hair, softly moving across the glossy strands, removing the petals one by one.

He spoke to her for the first time; he told her how soft her hair was.

And she opened her eyes to meet his smiling pale ones. Meekly, she asked if he was there to tease her about her forehead. He tipped his head to the side, eyes glancing at her none too small forehead before asking what was wrong about it.

For the first time, she had smiled at him. He was right, she was the perfect 100 percent girl for him. She had blurted out that he was the first person to talk to her without criticizing the bane of her existence. And he had replied cheerfully that it was because he was the 100 percent perfect boy for her.

They had talked about their dreams, about him wanting to be the best shinobi from their clan, becoming an honorable man like his father and becoming their clan leader someday, about her not being teased because of her forehead anymore, becoming stronger so she can defend herself and being accepted by the people around her.

And the children they were, their dream that they will be together forever.

The sun was beginning to set and reluctantly they had parted. She told him that she did not even give him her name. He didn't give his as well. He, being the prodigy or so he liked himself to think, suggested that they didn't need to have the exchange. Because surely, they would see each other again and when that day comes, they will exchange their first names and he would give her his last.

And so they parted.

Meeting the perfect person for you is already a miracle in itself. Letting go and waiting for the chance to meet again is equivalent to tempting fate.

And only rarely is it willing to give back what you lost.

She contracted pneumonia and was delirious for a week. The doctor said that her memories would be hazy, trying to at least lighten the situation, he gently added that she was lucky that she was still young. There weren't any important memories yet to forget.

He had gone home, to be greeted by the corpse of his father whom had sacrificed for the life of his twin, the current head of the main branch of the family. His eyes had changed into a cold, lifeless reflection of his thoughts, jaded, initiated into the gruesome world of the ninja.

Twenty years really won't feel that long when you weren't counting.

……………………………..oooooooo…………………………..

A small group had occupied a table in an outdoor pub; friends, allies grown strong over the years. That evening, they were celebrating the end of a mission, sipping their choice of drinks as they chattered loudly over the noise.

In the darkness, light reflected from the diamond ring on a woman's finger, catching the playful yet keen eyes of one of her companions.

"I knew the two of you would end up together Sakura-chan!!"

Everyone snapped their eyes to her face before settling on the ring on her finger. Sakura playfully stuck out her tongue to dispel the warmth on her cheeks.

"You're lucky Sasuke-kun is out on a mission or he'll punch the living daylights out of you Naruto."

The table suddenly turned raucous as everyone had offered their congratulations, Ino was patting her non too lightly on the back then stared at Shikamaru before glowering to get a proposal, Tenten gushed at the size of the ring and Hinata shyly offered a hug, Kiba whistled as he inspected the ring, Chouji offered a toast, Lee was tearful yet accepting, Shino nodded, and Naruto patted her head non stop.

Tenten rested her face on her palms and looked at Sakura wistfully.

"Ne, Sakura. How did you know Sasuke was the absolute 100 percent perfect guy for you?"

"95 percent. Sasuke-kun's a 95."

The whole table was silent. Even Hyuga Neji who ignored everyone else's presence in the gathering seemed to snap into attention.

"It's not like that. It's just we all have our quirks and all, even Sasuke-kun exasperates me without trying. Finding the 100 percent perfect guy for you in this world is a stone throw away from the impossible."

After digesting the piece of information, almost everyone had nodded their assent. Noise again filled the table, but this time Sakura kept looking at the cherry blossom tree on her left. It was spring and flowers were again in full bloom, petals falling haphazardly into the ground. Unknown to her a few stray petals wound up in her hair.

In seconds but seemed like an eternity for him, for her, he had reached out to pluck the errant petals off her hair.

Their eyes locked together for a moment.

The twenty past years of memories thinning thinning, coming so close to unearthing what happened one beautiful and lonely spring. For a moment, the lost seemed, tried to come back.

In the depths of each of their hearts there lived a child who refused to grow old.

He was still the perfect man for her.

She was still the perfect woman for him.

But twenty years was a real long time and the lucidity of what had transpired, what had they felt long ago seemed unclear, almost to the point of being surreal.

Unknown to her, a small sad smile graced her lips and he had slowly let go of the locks he meticulously held.

Rarely will you be given back what you lost no matter how small.

Even the last five percent of perfection.

fin

**Author's Note**:

**Lesson**: Do not, I repeat, do not ever let go of that someone and think that you will find someone better than he ever was. In the end you'll realize that your husband is married to someone else, and you are a stranger's wife. Do us all a favor-decrease the world's angsty people drive. If you want to join, please send me a box of pocky. Small steps my friends, small steps. –grin-

Yes, I am working on the next installment of Something Wonderful so it will be up sometime soon. (do take note I haven't set a date and that I am translating vk's 27th chapter. I need eye drops.) I just had to post this because I couldn't bloody sleep. And because I desperately needed an outlet. Think Rikko from Watase Yuu's Absolute Boyfriend-"I need to get a boyfriend whims"

And thank you so much for the support you guys gave to my story Something Wonderful. I really appreciate it. Hugs!!

If you haven't read the Murakami's short story please do. If you can't find it on the net, email me and I'll send it to you. Definitely for hopeless romantics. Learn from it.

Note's note:

As much as I would like to update as fast as I could, I'm currently working on my graduation thesis. If I fail, I don't get my baccalaureate degree people; hence the slower than snail update. Please don't kill me and pray instead that I don't mess up. Real bad. T.T

I was the only person who edited this so if there are any grammatical mistakes, punctuations, tenses, spellings etc, please review and inform me kay?- edited July 20, 2007

Opinions, feedback are always welcome.

And really I have nothing against sasusaku (someone actually asked), it's just that. Gah, I don't know. Nothing big is happening in the manga too. -shrugs-

Thanks for reading!


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